What are you working on today?

[wtd]

Cue Taken "Good luck"

D

Post in thread 'Post your latest parts purchase'

Jul 31, 2024

I ordered some inexpensive motor mounts for a ZJ with 318. First, it probably surprises no one but Anchor and Westar are the same. These came in an Anchor box with Westar molded in to the rubber

Secondly, the weld quality is truly embarrassing. They must literally hire 12-yo Chinese kids to weld this as no self-respecting welder would let this out the door (or remain employed). Some porosity/bobbling at the right and the entire left half is WAY too high on the mounting tab. Penetration into the circular body is questionable, and the welds have no body at...

• D60

• 

Figures that they are the same company. I put an Anchor motor mount on my fiancé's 94 Cavalier earlier in the year which uses the same mount as the 92 and I had to modify it to even fit. The Westar one I used today fit perfectly. I had previously used an Anchor one in the 94 several years ago that was very sloppily made that I got from Rockauto. I also bought some for my 92 at the same time. I also bought rear engine mounts and the transmission mounts for both cars at the same time and several of the mounts were unusable and it was going to cost more to ship them back, so I ended up throwing some of them away.

I really don't have high hopes for the Westar one, especially now that I know that they are basically Anchor ones.

 

[Sedin26]

Organized the inside of the shed. I also dismantled and sold the older, smaller one.

Pic attached of the new one, which I put up last fall. The base prep took about 2 weeks of work whereas the building of the shed was a couple of days.

 

[D60]

Put a Burco pre-cut mirror on an '08 Mountaineer (Exploder). This 3V is running on hopes and prayers and the family is shopping new vehicles, so we wanted the least expensive solution.

They said seeing double got old after he backed the mirror into an apple tree branch:

Burco provides nice adhesive pads. Also both sides are mirrored for left or right mounting (smart)

Better. No idea if the defrost heat will transfer. Probably not much, but the owners are not concerned. I sat in the driver's seat and could not detect any "funhouse" warp, which is sometimes a concern with cutting corners like this

 

[D60]

A tale of woe of GMT400 hood replacement: upon installing a junkyard hood on a '98 GMC, I found the rear of the hood conspicuously proud of the fender.

I searched the web for ideas as adjustment here is virtually zero. Some said raise the fender, which just is not an option here.

It was clear I'd need to modify the hinge, and I initially wanted to bend more "hook" into it, but wasn't confident I could do this successfully.

With the hood closed a conveniently missing piece of cowl allows access to the pivot bolt. I removed it and the hood fell to exactly where I wanted it

I marked where I wanted my hinge pivot hole to be and drilled an 1/8" pilot. You can see it's on the ragged edge of the old hole

To the bench to mostly fill the old hole. I killed two birds with one stone using my ground clamp to also hold a brass backer:

I got REALLY lucky and saved my 1/8" reference hole almost perfectly:

I lined up my 1/8" hole then swapped to a 5/16" (8mm) bit. Once mounted it worked PERFECTLY to bring the hood flush with the fender (actually seen in first pic)

I then pulled it off again and rattle-canned where I removed the paint.

Body work is tedious....

 

[wings&wheels]

Mom casually mentioned that some light in the backyard would be nice for her and the pup. She is in her 80's and her 'casual' mentions go to the top of my priority list. I had the post left from a project years ago and a friend w/ a truck hauled it down, I loaded the light and hit two hardware stores on the way down. Not bad for ~1.5 hours of work....I may have gone overboard on the lamp, they can tan under it! Nice 45dg day to work outside, still need to neaten up the wires.

 

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

Removed more 20 year old parts from my 20 year old cooper.

 

[ripcord]

Today was just some quick maintenance. Oil change on my daughter's Jeep WJ plus aired up all the tires in the driveway.

 

[D60]

'98 GMC 2500 hit an animal.
Before:

During:

After. These "chrome" aftermarket grilles are ubiquitous and barely fit due to questionable quality. The upside is that you don't have to worry about paint matching or paint condition of used.

Overall I find GM's philosophy of body construction ‐‐ both exterior and interior--fascinating during this era. It seems everything breaks down into dozens of small pieces. It's almost as if they tried to create more and more small pieces. It works but seems like an inventory and purchasing nightmare.

 

[Kennedy01]

2007 Chevrolet Malibu
Replaced front brake rotors and pads, replaced left outer tie rod, changed oil

2001 Ford F-150
Replaced battery and terminals, replaced air filter, changed oil

2012 Chevrolet Cruze 1.4
Replaced thermostat, new one faulty, will re-replace it tomorrow

 

[JoeDirt41]

1997 Accord "project" stupid captive rotors and pads, one CV axle, one lower ball joint, one upper control arm, and one upper ball joint boot. More to come tomorrow.

 

[D60]

Over two grand later the wife's '08 F150 has new 315's (same size she's always had). I always pull the wheels and take them in. Tire pressures are never equal, lug nuts are never properly torqued and center caps vanish if I do it any other way.

While on the lift I lubed the Icon BJs and UCAs.

After Team TTB finished designing the 3V (Mission Statement: develop the least reliable timing set), some of those engineers put this cover over wiring connectors under the driver seat. FTM actually talks about this in an '04-08 buyer's guide.

I noticed it was again full of gravel

Ever the geek, I tare'd the dust pan and measured just over four pounds of road base hanging out with our wiring. Go Team TFI!!

 

[Shel_B]

Helping to organize and set up our building's Thanksgiving dinner and potluck. Gotta run ...

 

[addyguy]

Just put a newer used battery in my G5, replacing the 10-year old one in there from when I got the car.
Calls for a group 90; but at the wreckers I went to they had a 3-year old, upper-end Motomaster group 96R battery that I chose. $70, and fits perfect.
Don’t think I will get more than another year out of this car, so I couldn’t bring myself to spend about $190 for a brand new battery.
The place I got it from even warranties used batteries for 2 years!
They also do a bit of a ‘sneaky’ thing - if you have your old battery, they don’t charge you the $25 core. If you bring back the core later, they refund you the $25 in the form of a gift card for the place, so you have to spend it there!
Not a big deal for me, I will use it towards a couple more used winter tires for the car, going to need them before the heavy snow hits.

 

[wtd]

A tale of woe of GMT400 hood replacement: upon installing a junkyard hood on a '98 GMC, I found the rear of the hood conspicuously proud of the fender.

I searched the web for ideas as adjustment here is virtually zero. Some said raise the fender, which just is not an option here.

It was clear I'd need to modify the hinge, and I initially wanted to bend more "hook" into it, but wasn't confident I could do this successfully.

With the hood closed a conveniently missing piece of cowl allows access to the pivot bolt. I removed it and the hood fell to exactly where I wanted itView attachment 251452
I marked where I wanted my hinge pivot hole to be and drilled an 1/8" pilot. You can see it's on the ragged edge of the old holeView attachment 251453
To the bench to mostly fill the old hole. I killed two birds with one stone using my ground clamp to also hold a brass backer:View attachment 251454
I got REALLY lucky and saved my 1/8" reference hole almost perfectly:View attachment 251455
I lined up my 1/8" hole then swapped to a 5/16" (8mm) bit. Once mounted it worked PERFECTLY to bring the hood flush with the fender (actually seen in first pic)View attachment 251456
I then pulled it off again and rattle-canned where I removed the paint.

Body work is tedious....

Nice job! I replaced the hood on my 98 K3500 some years ago with a factory one from a private seller and luckily everything lined up perfectly.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Wife was complaining that our 2007 Chrysler Pacifica would not start on a couple occasions. She'd shut it down to pump gas, get back in and it wouldn't start. Would try, but never fully turn over. I was at work each time, so my FIL came to the rescue to jump-start it, which was no help. She found that waiting about 10-15 minutes, it would start again.

I know the car inside and out and was very skeptical of the battery or alternator being at fault. FIL is handy with a voltmeter and battery voltage was >12.5V each time.

On a whim I purchased a reman starter. Replacing it was a clusterfuck, bad engineering. Starter is tucked in all on sides by the catalytic converter, engine block, motor mount under it, coolant pipes, you name it. Any work to gain access to the front of the engine requires removing the radiator fan, which entails at the very least, removing the upper radiator hose, which spills coolant. Without taking the O2 sensor off the cat (I tried but it was too stuck for the effort I wanted to put in), weaseling it out of that spot required an act of god and a lot of curse words.

It absolutely was the starter, new one cranks over about 2X as fast as before. I put the old starter on a test bench and it acted like a starter should (with no load). But when I wiggled the shaft, there was a TON of play. Evidently some bearing has gone south, which caused the far side of the shaft to start eating into the housing. You can see some of the metal shaved away in the second pic.

 

[Kennedy01]

2012 Chevrolet Cruze re-replaced the thermostat, changed oil and rotated tires. Spent the rest of the day doing inventory. Off the rest of the week.

 

[D60]

My non-profit called me today and said there was a loud clunk and bad things happened on our '98 Ram 1500.

To be fair the poor truck has lived a very hard 240k miles. We haul 400 gallons of water in it regularly and I actually beefed the rear leafs considerably to handle the weight, as well as uber-custom upper overloads.

Anyway, this happened:View attachment 249905
All five wheel studs sheared off. I know I was the last one to torque them at 100#View attachment 249906

Quoting myself, I tackled this today.

I was able to pick the rear with my little L2800, and the wife steered the Ram:

I built this thing years ago for shoving trucks around with my bucket. It has proved incredibly useful (got a little wonky here!!)

Not good:

9.25 studs have an annoyingly large knurl dia of ~.662". I searched tons of applications (including newer 9.25s on 3rd Gen+) but most lugs have a smaller knurl. I wanted to convert to 9/16" or 14mm from OEM 1/2-20

Finally I found that the OBS Ford 10.25 uses a knurl of ~.674" and is of course 9/16‐18. EVEN BETTER, I've got several 10.25s kicking around the property because, white trash.

I had to shorten them by about 10 threads and turn them down to press in.

All installed:

Worked beautifully:

 

[92saturnsl2]

Quoting myself, I tackled this today.

I was able to pick the rear with my little L2800, and the wife steered the Ram:
View attachment 251709
I built this thing years ago for shoving trucks around with my bucket. It has proved incredibly useful (got a little wonky here!!)
View attachment 251704
Not good:
View attachment 251705
9.25 studs have an annoyingly large knurl dia of ~.662". I searched tons of applications (including newer 9.25s on 3rd Gen+) but most lugs have a smaller knurl. I wanted to convert to 9/16" or 14mm from OEM 1/2-20

Finally I found that the OBS Ford 10.25 uses a knurl of ~.674" and is of course 9/16‐18. EVEN BETTER, I've got several 10.25s kicking around the property because, white trash.

I had to shorten them by about 10 threads and turn them down to press in.
View attachment 251706
All installed:
View attachment 251707
Worked beautifully:View attachment 251708

Where's the knurls, or did you just taper the shaft? Curious how that works, putting a tapered (please correct me if I'm wrong) stud in a round hub hole designed for knurled studs. Can only glean so much from the photos.

Looks like a lot of effort (or an excuse to use machinery ) when the correct studs are rather inexpensive.

 

[4WD]

Over two grand later the wife's '08 F150 has new 315's (same size she's always had). I always pull the wheels and take them in. Tire pressures are never equal, lug nuts are never properly torqued and center caps vanish if I do it any other way.
View attachment 251655
While on the lift I lubed the Icon BJs and UCAs.

After Team TTB finished designing the 3V (Mission Statement: develop the least reliable timing set), some of those engineers put this cover over wiring connectors under the driver seat. FTM actually talks about this in an '04-08 buyer's guide.
View attachment 251656
I noticed it was again full of gravel
View attachment 251657
Ever the geek, I tare'd the dust pan and measured just over four pounds of road base hanging out with our wiring. Go Team TFI!!View attachment 251658

Stuck with KO2’s - mine were $404 each out the door this time - but did not get certificates bcs I have never needed them
(Now I will )

 

[D60]

Stuck with KO2’s - mine were $404 each out the door this time - but did not get certificates bcs I have never needed them
(Now I will )

I, too, was torn on the certificates. I once had a Cooper with a broken or separated belt when still new. Honestly, I don't know EXACTLY if the certificate helped me there. You'd think it would be warranty regardless? But they replaced that tire no questions asked. They found the problem through road force balancing.

I've solved that problem by no longer running Coopers. The Cooper AT3 is everywhere here and is hands down the worst all terrain I've used on Colorado snowy roads. Sorry, not sorry -- AT3s suck.

I've personally had nothing but good luck with numerous sets of KO2. When the Discount guy gleefully told me they've "improved" with the KO3, I was skeptical. We were in no immediate hurry so I told him to get KO2s. I got one of the last sets in the country (says Discount), so next time I'll have no choice.

And, ironically, if I actually need to use a certificate I'll most likely be forced into a KO3. Hopefully the new design is more safe and effective than this thing several years ago.......